Schistosomiasis Could Make African Women More Vulnerable To HIV

May 12, 2014

New York Times: A Simple Theory, and a Proposal, on HIV in Africa
“While around the world a vast majority of AIDS victims are men, Africa has long been the glaring exception: Nearly 60 percent are women. And while there are many theories, no one has been able to prove one. … [A] Norwegian [infectious diseases] team believes that African women are more vulnerable to HIV because of a chronic, undiagnosed parasitic disease: genital schistosomiasis, often nicknamed ‘schisto’…” (McNeil, 5/10).